Corrections

Pobody’s nerfect, and neither are we.

As a news source, we value truth and accuracy. But as human beings, we make mistakes—and we want our readers to know when we do. So, we track when we got it wrong (and what we should have written) on this always-public page to maximize transparency with readers. We began this on September 25, 2024.

This page is linked at the bottom of every edition of The Pour Over’s newsletter. When you find a mistake in our reporting, email news@thepourover.org to let us know!

2025

• In our June 23rd email, we wrote about a “large data breach,” but it appears there was no new breach; instead, it was a fresh publication of passwords from old breaches. And only 16 billion. Phew.
• In our June 4th email, we wrote about Israeli soldiers killing Palestinians near an aid center in Gaza. Israel issued a competing account overnight and throughout the day, and the story became more heavily scrutinized. Below is our original and how we’d rewrite it one day later.
  • ORIGINAL: Israeli soldiers killed at least 27 Palestinians in Gaza as they attempted to collect aid at a distribution site. The IDF said that their soldiers fired shots at those who were “deviating from the designated access routes.” The attack brings more scrutiny around the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a new Israel- and U.S.-backed group that has taken over aid distribution.
  • REVISED (Changed bolded)
    Israeli soldiers reportedly killed 27 Palestinians in Gaza as they attempted to collect aid at a distribution site, according to the Hamas-run health ministry; the Red Cross reported 21 dead. The IDF said that their soldiers fired warning shots at those who were “deviating from the designated access routes,” but insisted they “didn’t hit that many people as far as we understand.”
• In our May 28 newsletter, we said “COVID shots are no longer recommended for healthy children and healthy pregnant women,” but we should’ve been more specific. The change in recommendation was made by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, but all other U.S. health agencies did not adopt it. Two days later, the CDC announced the COVID-19 vaccine would remain on the vaccine schedule for healthy children 6 months to 17 years and advocated for “shared decision-making” between a child’s parent and doctor.

• In our May 23 newsletter, we said there were no injuries on the ground after a private plane crashed in San Diego, but this was incorrect. Eight people were taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation and other non-life-threatening injuries.
• In our May 23 newsletter, we said the Supreme Court’s 4-4 split “upheld the Oklahoma State Supreme Court’s earlier ruling—religious charter schools violate the First Amendment’s separation of church and state.” Neither the Oklahoma Supreme Court nor the U.S. Constitution used the phrase “separation of church and state”, so we should’ve given a more neutral and accurate summary of the ruling. The article we linked used better phrasing: “Oklahoma’s top court found that the proposed school would violate the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment limits on government involvement in religion.”
• In our May 19 newsletter, we said that “86” is slang for “kill.” Since the 1900s, “86” has meant “reject” or “get rid of”, often used in bars when a menu item runs out or a customer is thrown out. More recently, slang dictionaries have included that it can be a euphemism for killing. This alternative definition is what prompted the Secret Service’s concern over a post by former FBI Director James Comey that showed “8647” (interpreted to mean someone “86” President Trump, the 47th president). We should have provided a more comprehensive definition of “86.”
• In our May 16 newsletter, we said a recent Boeing aircraft order would also boost engine production for General Electric. Turns out, GE was broken up into three separate companies—GE Aerospace, GE HealthCare, and GE Vernova—last year. (Don’t worry, it was mutual.) We should have attributed the boost to GE Aerospace.
• In our May 5 newsletter, we said travelers would no longer be able to board domestic flights with a license that wasn’t a REAL ID (has a gold star). This is mostly true, but “enhanced licenses” from Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Vermont, and Washington are considered REAL ID compliant despite not having the gold star.
• In our April 25th newsletter, we had a typo in the Espresso Shot entitled “Battle Lines.” We wrote “…VP Vance said it was time the two counties accepted the U.S.’s latest peace proposal.” We meant two countries. That “r” was important.
• In our April 16th newsletter, we said “Bostonian,” broadly referring to people at Harvard University. Harvard is in Cambridge, MA, across the Charles River from Boston. We’re sorry to all Boston-area Bay Staters for grouping the areas together and assuming you all rock the same accent. 
• In our April 4th newsletter, we stated that President Trump had placed a 10% baseline tariff on “all countries.” This is not true. The 10% baseline was levied on almost all countries (185 of them). Excluded from the list were Canada and Mexico—which faced & negotiated tariffs in February—and Russia, North Korea, Cuba, and Belarus—which the White House said already faced “extremely high” tariffs and sanctions.
• In our April 4th newsletter, we referred to a man who was deported by the Trump administration as a “29-year-old El Salvadoran citizen” when we should have said a 29-year-old Salvadoran citizen. The “El” is not used when referring to a person’s nationality. In our March 24th newsletter, we ran an ad referring to Jaws as a 1980s shark… turns out Jaws was a 5-year-old shark by the 80s. Gonna need a bigger boat!
• In the March 5th Espresso Shot “(Not the) State of the Union,” we incorrectly stated that President Trump spoke for over 140 minutes when he actually spoke for over 1 hour and 40 minutes (100 minutes). They’re not the same, because of math.
• In our February 21st podcast, we stated that the body of an Israeli woman—Shiri Bibas—was returned with the bodies of three other hostages. But the body sent in Shiri’s place was not Shiri. We corrected this late update prior to sending out our newsletter but failed to update our podcast. You can read the corrected story here.
• In February 17th’s newsletter, we incorrectly listed a lesser-known President as William Harding. His name was Warren Harding, and the irony of this mistake is not lost on us.
• In the January 29th Espresso Shot “Bot Stock Shock,” we incorrectly said “DeepSeek left Nvidia chips out of its build.” Initial reporting was that DeepSeek did not use the latest, most advanced Nvidia chips (which U.S. export restrictions prevent from being sold to Chinese companies)—this is what we meant to say. However, even that is now called into question. There have been an increasing number of reports accusing DeepSeek of having used as many as 50,000 of Nvidia’s most advanced chips but not disclosing it because they were obtained in violation of the U.S. export restrictions.
• In the January 22nd Espresso Shot “O-H-…,” we incorrectly said that The Notre Dame/NIU game was in week 3 of the College Football Playoffs. It was actually in week 2.
• In January 15th’s newsletter, we referenced the “Sea of Japan.” There is a dispute over what to call the body of water located between Japan, the Korean Peninsula, and Russia. The name “Sea of Japan” is internationally recognized and used by most countries, while “East Sea” is primarily used by South and North Korea, who argue that the name “Sea of Japan” was imposed during Japanese colonial rule and that “East Sea” is the historically accurate term.

2024

• In December 20th’s newsletter, we incorrectly said that the first severe case of bird flu (H5N1) in a human had been reported in Louisiana. The first severe case of H5N1 in a human was in a teen who was hospitalized in Canada in November 2024. Our story was the first severe case of H5N1 in a human in the United States.
• In the November 11th Espresso Shot “Transitioning Power,” we incorrectly said Susie Wiles was the first female chief of staff. Marguerite Alice “Missy” LeHand functioned as Franklin D. Roosevelt’s chief of staff. While her position did not carry the title, she is widely considered the first female chief of staff.
• In the November 8th Espresso Shot “Unwinding the Election,” we incorrectly said that President Trump’s transition team was being “led” by RFK, Tulsi, and Trump’s elder sons. While they are key figures working on the transition, the chairs of Trump’s Transition Team are Linda McMahon and Howard Lutnick.
• In the October 11th Espresso Shot “Damage Assessment,” we incorrectly stated that the Tampa Bay area had installed AquaFences in anticipation of Hurricane Milton. Actually, it was Tampa Bay Hospital that installed the AquaFences.
• In October 7th’s newsletter, due to lack of space, we said that a merger between Spirit and JetBlue Airlines failed. In context, the DOJ blocked the Spirit/JetBlue merger’s terms, demanding some changes. The companies were expecting regulatory opposition and never appealed the DOJ opposition or tried to make the changes.
• In September 30th’s newsletter, we incorrectly said that Saturday Night live started in 1974; it actually started in 1975.
• In September 25th’s newsletter, we shared several violent crime statistics. Nothing we wrote about the violent crime statistics was inaccurate, but we should have dedicated more words to providing additional context. Here’s more of that info:
  • Crime is up significantly since 2020 (when President Biden took office), but is down from 2022 to 2023 (that’s what the FBI is reporting.
  • Many major cities were not included in 2022’s data, but they are in this most recent report. This report covers 85% of the population (up from 60% in 2022), including every community with 1+ million people.
  • The National Crime Victimization Survey—which is the other major report on crime—saw a slight decrease in violent crime (22.5 per 1,000 people, down from 23.5 per 1,000 people) from 2022 to 2023
  • Both these reports are very newly released (after the recent presidential debates), so comments made by Presidents Trump, Biden, and VP Harris were based on previous reports.
  • We got this information from The Marshall Project and direct reviews of the National Crime Victimization Survey and FBI Crime Data.

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